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I love cardboard. It's easy to source and is the perfect material to make with. I've written before about the tabletop easels we use at preschool but realised that I've never shared them on the blog. These cardboard tabletop easels are easy to make yourself and are a great example of sustainable practice in action.

Patterns are all around us. There are many ways to introduce patterns to young children but key to teaching this basic maths principal is to help preschoolers firstly become aware of the patterns around them. Follow this growing recognition of patterns with opportunities for them to extend and create their own patterns and mathematical thinkingusing fun and engaging activities. Today I'm sharing some of our exploration of pattern in class.

As a parent, there is much I want for my three children. I want them to be healthy. I want them to be kind and thoughtful of others as well as look after themselves. I want them to persevere when things are hard and show resilience when things don't go their way.I want them to love and be loved. I want them to be creative, to always be able to look at something and see all the possibilities it holds. To me, teaching them this will be my greatest gift and challenge.

In one corner of my classroom last term I created a fruit and vegetable shop to encourage some dramatic play but was frustrated when I couldn't find some simple printable cards to display in the same space to create the print rich environment I wanted for the early readers in my class. With no spare time during the term, I've used some of my holidays to create a set of simple fruit photo cards and a set of vegetable photo cards which can be used either for classroom or home school display.

This is the easiest way I know to teach young childrenodd and even numbers. It's so easy, I taught my six year old after dinner one night using this approach. It works because many children are visual learners and the objects and the language used are familiar and relate-able. It's a great way to introduce the concept of odd and even numbers in early childhood.